November 13, 2000
Texas Baptist Forum
Seek reconciliation
___Dave McFadden's motion on reconciliation was one of the highlights of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in Corpus Christi. The Executive Board will have the opportunity to act on this next year.
___What bothered me was comments like, "We have already tried reconciliation and they were not interested" that were made several times during the convention.
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___Many times I have ignored and refused God's gracious attempts at reconciliation with me. I am glad he did not give up. And I know this: God is glorified when reconciliation takes place, whether it happens in the life of a believer, in a family or in the family of God. We must never give up on the opportunity to glorify God.
___I am excited reconciliation is seen by many of us as a ministry God has called us all to pursue as his ambassadors. We have not given up on reconciliation within the Baptist family! We can have as many groups as the salaries of their leaders will allow, but we cannot leave broken and hurtful relationships within the family of God unattended as open wounds.
___Reconciliation is the healing of relationships. This is what God's Spirit does, and we all want to do what Jesus would do. Join us in praying for and actively pursuing reconciliation between the BGCT and the Southern Baptist Convention!
___ Bubba Stahl
___ Boerne
God's money
___For years I have heard how terrible the SBC was to execute a political takeover. The BGCT is where I have heard most of this complaining.
___I guess they didn't think it was too bad. As a matter of fact, they thought it was great strategy in the wrong hands because they have become what they hated in SBC leadership. One of the saddest things is that our seminary students will suffer due to increased tuition rates and fees due to the political efforts of the BGCT, which is attempting to use Texas money for Texas schools and needs.
___I guess I read the Bible wrong. I thought it was God's money and that he should have a say in where the money is spent. That's what I get for being too strict in my interpretation of Scripture.
___If all churches looked after the needs of their own communities above the needs of the associations, states, nation and world, we would be in sad shape.
___ Jim Ballard
___ Edgewood
Creedal authority
___Claude Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church in Euless and chairman of the SBC Executive Committee, has revealed in his own words how SBC leadership for the last 20 years has rejected the Texas Baptist heritage of democratic governance by the local church body and held in contempt the local church members' ability to resolve issues of theological importance without the incursion of the SBC's self-imposed creedal religious authority.
___Commenting on the BGCT changes in funding SBC entities, Thomas said, "The decisions to defund the seminaries and the other two SBC agencies will provide the churches with an opportunity for division. It will be an issue in the local church. ... There will be divergent opinions. That's an unfortunate circumstance in a local church" (Nov. 6).
___Perhaps the BGCT's actions have reminded Thomas and other SBC leaders that 20 years of revisionist governance practice by the SBC Executive Committee cannot erase 155 years of local-church autonomy and governance. For the local church body in Texas has always grappled with diversity of opinions among its members while seeking the unified guidance of God's will for his people and has always confronted issues that are philosophically divisive ... all without the oversight of the SBC's ecclesiastical Executive Committee approval.
___ Tony L. Talbert
___ Friendswood
Support missions
___It is apparent that the root cause of the lack of cooperation between the SBC and the BGCT is a too-generous laity.
___The average church member believes each member has a responsibility to commit a fixed amount of money to the church. He gives the money on faith that the majority will be spent on expenses related to his church, with some percentage forwarded to support evangelical outreach.
___That can take many forms, but the average church member has a strong anticipation the money will directly support missions.
___As long as those who are accountable for seeing that missionaries are supported are committed to the effort and are struggling to raise the funds to meet the needs of those on the front lines, there is no energy left for power struggles.
___The BGCT move to withhold financing for seminaries is to bring pressure for change in the SBC. My proposal is for church members to use the same strategy--ensure your contribution goes directly to support missions instead of power brokers.
___ David Rauls
___ Fort Worth
Convention moved
___I attended this year's BGCT as a messenger. In 52 years as a Baptist, I also have attended many of the conventions of the SBC. Today I read letters (Nov. 6) decrying the actions taken at the BGCT and the way in which the convention was conducted. Conversely, my observation was that of a democratic convention, attended by messengers who exercised their right to vote, with a prevailing position that allowed discussion from both sides of every issue.
___I can only conclude that these writers never have attended an SBC convention, where it is common to turn off microphones, ignore completely those with a differing opinion and just simply be rude and un-Christian to those who don't agree with the "power." All this after the "power" has reportedly often met in closed session.
___I applaud Charles Wade, Clyde Glazener and those who worked so diligently to assure a free, fair, Christian-oriented convention. And I continue to hold the view that BGCT has not moved! It is the SBC that has moved--dramatically!
___ Walt Graham
___ San Antonio
Cooperation's end
___A messenger to the convention in Corpus Christi (Nov. 6) said, "I believe our vote here destroyed the Cooperative Program" (Nov. 6). SBC leaders have made similar statements.
___Cooperation, as in "Cooperative" Program, requires mutual cooperation on both sides. The "Cooperative" Program ceased to exist when current SBC leadership began to refuse to consider for nomination to SBC boards, committees and commissions anyone who had not endorsed the so-called "conservative resurgence."
___That refusal, beginning in 1990 and continuing today, effectively ended the Cooperative Program as we knew it before 1979, not the Oct. 30, 2000, vote in Corpus Christi.
___The votes in Corpus Christi on the Seminary Study Committee report and the new budget were overwhelmingly decisive. Though President Clyde Glazener made every effort to be fair, the process still was flawed in that it did not allow sufficient debate.
___Setting a 45-minute time limit on the seminary funding proposal was unfortunate. Matters of that importance deserve a more thorough airing, even if the debate doesn't change the outcome.
___Any time messengers are seated in two halls it should be automatic that every vote is a ballot vote.
___ Toby Druin
___ Duncanville
Misunderstood
___I fear a letter I sent to the Standard (June 19) was misunderstood.
___I have spent many years trying to get Baptists to work together and reconcile. That was my effort when I ran for president of the SBC at Indianapolis.
___I was a pastor in California for nearly 20 years. We all know that cults abound in that state. Not the least of these heresies is bibliolatry. I sensed the most recent statement of the Baptist Faith & Message smacked of this heresy, which places the Bible above Jesus. I reacted by writing the letter to the Standard.
___Since that time, I have contacted many leaders of our convention on the matter. I was pleasantly surprised that none of them even faintly believed that the Scriptures were above the Savior!
___Thank God for that.
___Let us pray that the West Coast heresy will never darken the door of our Southern Baptist family. When it does, armies from both sides will flock to douse the fire. I will be one of them.
___Jesus gave us the Bible. The Bible gave us Jesus.
___To reverse the order is to defame both Jesus and his word.
___ Jess Moody
___ Mansfield
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